Report: Smart Signs 4 year, $77 million extension

[Moranis]

Too much money, but I'd rather have Smart than Fournier as Smart is an elite defender and has more positional versatility.

We could have signed both if ownership was willing to pay more in tax.  Smart at PG and Fournier at SG, and both moveable contracts later on for a star if need be.  Fournier wanted to be here too, and an upgrade over Richardson at least based on last season.  Though I digress,  we might as well consider a R Williams extension if reasonable since we won’t have max cap space next offseason.

I'd rather have Richardson on a one year expiring than pay Fournier that.  Fournier is just a tremendous overpay.  You don't play solid (great if you want) shooters that literally do nothing else 20 million.  The Kyle Korver's of the world (who was an even better shooter, though a lesser athlete) just isn't worth that kind of money. 

[flybono]

Trade bait

[Ogaju]

I’m not crazy about the deal, I was really excited about having that flexibility next offseason. But now that I’m thinking about it there could be a real upside here:

The Celtics sent a clear message to the players around the league that they are ready and willing to pay their own players. As good as Ainge was, and he was an incredible GM, but he was also very cutthroat. I think this shakes the whole Isaiah Thomas situation.

We paid Tatum. That was enough of a message, if one was needed. Locking up a role player at almost 20% of the cap is something else entirely.

lol…paying Tatum is not a message. You really want to send a message with Tatum you sign him and give his mother a high position in your legal department if you have one.. I am only half joking here because you can see around the league evidence of teams sending messages of loyalty to star players beyond their max contracts. Bucks gave Gianni’ brother a roster spot…wink wink. Lakers gave Gianni’ brother a roster spot and Giannis was not even a Laker. Hornets just gave a Ball brother a try because of his star brother. Paying Tatum the max is not a message.

[86MaxwellSmart]

Great deal...Smart becomes much more tradable after this. Nobody was giving us anything for a player on an expiring deal.

[Jiri Welsch]

Two things:

1. Roy's perspective that "we were lied to" is true if you interpreted "the Celtics are reserving cap flexibility for 2022 offseason" to mean that they were going gung-ho for a max FA next offseason. Instead, it appears the truth is they just didn't want to sign outside FAs to more than 1-year deals. They did maintain flexibility, just not in the way some posters had been hoping. Opening up a max FA spot never seemed like the responsible move considering they'd need to empty out the majority of the roster to sign Beal.

2. The Celtics can still spin Horford's contract plus two-three young chips (Nesmith, Langford, Pritchard, G. Williams, Williams III) and draft picks to get a decent #3 option. Some star will become disgruntled eventually -- it happens literally every season. Granted it's a crapshoot to actually acquire another star, but they do have options.

[ETNCeltics]

Don't get the disappointment in the signing. Still have open the option of trading for a max player with Smart and Horford or others next offseason, and if not, can still have a lot of room to sign high $ free agents, just not a max.

[obnoxiousmime]

I’m not crazy about the deal, I was really excited about having that flexibility next offseason. But now that I’m thinking about it there could be a real upside here:

The Celtics sent a clear message to the players around the league that they are ready and willing to pay their own players. As good as Ainge was, and he was an incredible GM, but he was also very cutthroat. I think this shakes the whole Isaiah Thomas situation.

We paid Tatum. That was enough of a message, if one was needed. Locking up a role player at almost 20% of the cap is something else entirely.

lol…paying Tatum is not a message. You really want to send a message with Tatum you sign him and give his mother a high position in your legal department if you have one.. I am only half joking here because you can see around the league evidence of teams sending messages of loyalty to star players beyond their max contracts. Bucks gave Gianni’ brother a roster spot…wink wink. Lakers gave Gianni’ brother a roster spot and Giannis was not even a Laker. Hornets just gave a Ball brother a try because of his star brother. Paying Tatum the max is not a message.

The author of a book about the Nets' 2019-2020 season, Matt Sullivan, mentioned on a podcast that the Nets pay for whatever Durant and Irving want. This includes stuff for their friends, families, and girlfriends. They also signed DeAndre Jordan because he was their buddy. Kawhi Leonard tried to get his uncle and "advisor" Dennis Robertson perks from the Lakers when negotiating whether to go there. I'm sure there is a lot of this going on around the league.

[MattyIce]

I’m not crazy about the deal, I was really excited about having that flexibility next offseason. But now that I’m thinking about it there could be a real upside here:

The Celtics sent a clear message to the players around the league that they are ready and willing to pay their own players. As good as Ainge was, and he was an incredible GM, but he was also very cutthroat. I think this shakes the whole Isaiah Thomas situation.

We paid Tatum. That was enough of a message, if one was needed. Locking up a role player at almost 20% of the cap is something else entirely.

lol…paying Tatum is not a message. You really want to send a message with Tatum you sign him and give his mother a high position in your legal department if you have one.. I am only half joking here because you can see around the league evidence of teams sending messages of loyalty to star players beyond their max contracts. Bucks gave Gianni’ brother a roster spot…wink wink. Lakers gave Gianni’ brother a roster spot and Giannis was not even a Laker. Hornets just gave a Ball brother a try because of his star brother. Paying Tatum the max is not a message.

I can't get into it now but something similar is coming down the road (no not his mother tho) 

[PAOBoston]

Disaster. Not really pumped about this deal. Too much money for such a mediocre player. It’s basically a token deal to show the NBA Boston is a nice place to play in and that it pays its players. Includes a trade kicker too so basically Smart is not moveable for the near future.

So much for “flexibility”. Seems like this management team has no direction right now. So unlikely Cs are players in FA next summer and for any stars this season via trade either. Guess we’re just going to get those pump up videos from the Cs claiming Smart is a pillar and our 3rd star. (Sigh)

[mr. dee]

Don't get the disappointment in the signing. Still have open the option of trading for a max player with Smart and Horford or others next offseason, and if not, can still have a lot of room to sign high $ free agents, just not a max.

That's just the classic case of CB with the "grass is greener on the other fence. These people will regret letting our defensive leader go.

For people saying we should have kept Fournier, just look at this stats:

15 PPG, 3 RPG, 2 APG

vs

18 PPG, 4 RPG, 6 APG

This is the stats from the Nets series. Guess who's stats is who.

And for people saying this is an overpay, haven't you learned from Avery Bradley contract? There's an upcoming new TV deal. This contract will end up a bargain with the new agreement as cap space will also blow up as well.

https://nba.nbcsports.com/2021/03/23/ratings-slump-next-nba-broadcast-deal-reportedly-could-triple-current-one/

The NBA’s television deals are with Disney (ABC/ESPN) and AT&T (Turner Broadcasting, which is TNT and NBA TV).

What the NBA provides them, from a business perspective, is a much more popular sport globally than the NFL or baseball, and sport still proving popular with harder to reach Gen Z, even if they consume the media in different ways than Baby Boomers and Gen X did. Young’s report says the NBA seems to be continuing that trend with Gen Alpha (I guess that’s what we’re calling the youngest generation). Increased legalized gambling (and illegal gambling) also may play a role (although how much has yet to be quantified).

That money pouring into the NBA will be split between the league and its players, a divide that is currently roughly 50/50 (it’s more complex than that, but that’s the basic idea). More television revenue will lead to a higher salary cap and, with that, higher salaries (particularly for the elite players, but somewhat trickling down to role and minimum players).

The NBA’s negotiations for its next broadcast deal — which probably stays with the current partners and focus more on streaming rights — is more than a year away, but the groundwork has been laid. And it looks like the NBA is about to get paid.

[SparzWizard]

Terrible deal. So no max cap space for Bradley Beal next year.

I just hope Brad Stevens is not banking on Romeo Langford, Aaron Nesmith, Timelord, and Payton Pritchard to become the next Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo of 2008, 2010, or 2012 for next season

[Jiri Welsch]

Terrible deal. So no max cap space for Bradley Beal next year.

I just hope Brad Stevens is not banking on Romeo Langford, Aaron Nesmith, Timelord, and Payton Pritchard to become the next Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo of 2008, 2010, or 2012 for next season

I don't think Stevens is banking on guys playing on rookie contracts to be Hall of Famers in the middle and tail end of their primes, no.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Not great - would have rather had him at $68M. He's a good player, but limited. I can't believe they gave him a trade kicker.

Whatever, if he's here for the long-haul, that's fine; if he's traded, that's fine. I won't lose sleep over it, but I'm not going to cheer this move from the front office. They gave him the most possible money they could have. I really hope this doesn't limit future possibilities with our team - say if TL, Nesmith, or Romeo break-out. Smart's a nice player, but he is what he is at this stage. I thought he was fairly paid on his last contract - didn't think he needed a $25M raise.

This is pretty much where I'm at. Smart makes a lot of great plays, but he also makes quite a few boneheaded plays, and also has too many bad shooting nights for my taste. I'm fine with him being a "foundational piece," but he's fairly limited on the offensive end—not a great shooter, not a great dribble-drive guy, can't really create his own shot—so the price might be a bit of an overpay.

I know that it would've been tough to create enough cap space for a max contract. If I'm correctly interpreting what others here and on CB have said, I guess the Cs can still acquire a max player via trade or sign-and-trade? Those are good options, but we also don't know who'll be available over the next couple of years. Maybe Brad's banking on a couple of Rob/Pritchard/Nesmith/Romeo turning into a stud on a cheap deal.

I guess we'll have to wait to see how all of this shakes out on the court this season.

[gouki88]

Terrible deal. So no max cap space for Bradley Beal next year.

I just hope Brad Stevens is not banking on Romeo Langford, Aaron Nesmith, Timelord, and Payton Pritchard to become the next Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo of 2008, 2010, or 2012 for next season

Why would he be banking on our non-star young players to become our veteran stars? We have two established All-Stars, by the way.

[Rondo9]

Marcus Smart retweeted Chris Mannix's "report" that Stevens was frustrated with Smart and was looking to trade him.

https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/1422210933699579904